PostgreSQL clusters using streaming replication and pgpool-II

The talk is about PostgreSQL clusters using streaming replication and pgpool-II, which are quite popular in Japan. Plus, the next version of pgpool-II will be released this winter, so the talk will be about what's new in the version.

Machine learning for better query planning

In the speech we consider the current PostgreSQL planner model, then the possibilities of applying machine learning methods for planner improvement and the obtained results.

PostgreSQL and JDBC: striving for high performance

Common Java wisdom is to use PreparedStatements and Batch DML in order to achieve top performance. It turns out one cannot just blindly follow the best practices. In order to get high throughput, you need to understand the specifics of the database in question, and the content of the data.

In the talk we will see how proper usage of PostgreSQL protocol enables high performance operation while fetching and storing the data. We will see how trivial application and/or JDBC driver code changes can result in dramatic performance improvements. We will examine how server-side prepared statements should be activated, and discuss pitfalls of using server-prepared statements.

Improving Postgres' Buffer Manager

Postgresql's buffer manager has parts where it's showing its age. We'll discuss how it currently works, what problems there are, and what attempts are in progress to rectify its weaknesses.

• Lookups in the buffer cache are expensive
• The buffer mapping table is organized as a hash table, which makes efficient implementations of prefetching, write coalescing, dropping of cache contents hard
• Relation extension scales badly
• Cache replacement is inefficient
• Cache replacement replaces the wrong buffers